'The Heat' Only Builds To A Simmer

Look! Girls can do buddy-cop movies too!

It's a great idea, and it's a shame that it gets bungled along the way. Put women in a genre that's dominated by men, and there's simply more at stake.

That's not to say there's not some fun to be had. For one, we have the always fantastic Melissa McCarthy, as streetwise Boston detective Sharon Mullins. When she's introduced, she gleefully arrests a john while running down another hilarious character, a small-time drug dealer named Rojas (Spoken Reasons) who flees on foot. She's the loose canon who's great at her job, doesn't mind playing fast and loose with the rules, keeps her coworkers terrified of her, and her boss prematurely aged.

Of course, she needs her straight (wo)man, which comes in the form of straight-laced FBI agent Sarah Ashburn, played by Sandra Bullock. She's extremely competent, arrogant, so tightly wound that her pajamas are pressed, and so bad at relating to others that her only real friend is a cat that belongs to her neighbor.

Ashburn has closed more cases than any other agent and feels she deserves that big promotion. But her boss points out that everybody hates her. So when Ashburn is sent to Boston to catch a very dangerous drug lord, she and Mullins are inevitably forced to work together, (Ashburn has all the FBI's information, Mullins is the one who knows the mean streets of Boston) clash, and then bond.

The story is subpar and mostly feels like it's going through the motions of the buddy-cop movie, so all the laughs (and there are quite a few) come from the great comedic talent from both the leads and the peripheral characters.

But another problem is how “The Heat” treats Bullock's character Ashburn. Sure, she's a deeply flawed character who desperately needs to learn how to play well with others. But that's not the complaint that's first aired about her. Apparently she's...wait for it...arrogant and competitive. Well, she's very competent at her job, so her arrogance is often quite enjoyable. And wait, aren't those the same traits that are found in practically every male cop character since practically the beginning of film?

What makes matters more confusing is the way it treats the loose cannon, Mullins. She doesn't play well with others either, she has a very dysfunctional relationship with her family (she was forced to put her own brother in jail to keep him off the streets and off drugs), she lives in a crappy apartment stocked with all kinds of terrifying weapons, including a grenade that occasionally ticks. Yet she's not the one who's humbled at every turn and constantly taught a lesson in general. Oh, and she doesn't get stabbed. Sure, Ashburn should learn a few things, but shouldn't Mullins too?

Perhaps the difference is that unlike Ashburn, Mullins isn't angling for a promotion, and she actually hooks up with quite a few men (off camera). But the movie feels so disposable that hopefully this is only the first indication of better things to come.

Grade: C-